Former Australian PM recalls the horror of 9/11 attacks

Australia's former Prime Minister John Howard, a witness to the airliner
attacks on the US, believes the events of September 11 2001, changed world
politics.

11:05AM BST 06 Sep 2011

Mr Howard was visiting the US when planes crashed into the towers of New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon and into a field in Pennsylvania.

On September 11, Mr Howard was in his Washington hotel, only a few blocks from the White House, when the first attack happened. He was speaking to reporters when the plane hit the Pentagon.

"While we were doing the news conference, the third plane, Flight 77, drove into the Pentagon. We pulled back the curtains and we saw the smoke rising, and we knew then, beyond any argument, that this was a concerted terrorist attack on the US," Mr Howard said.

The day before the attacks, on September 10, 2001, Mr Howard had his first meeting the US president at the time, George W Bush. They spent four hours together starting what became a strong political alliance and a lasting personal friendship.

This union led Australia into the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq.

A decade on, Mr Howard has no regrets about decision to join the US in military action overseas, despite the war in Afghanistan being now in its 10th year, with 29 Australian soldiers killed in action there.

"Well it was certainly worth fighting and I do believe it can be won. I believe what is more slow though the progress seems to be, it is being won," he said

But Mr Howard cautioned against any premature withdrawal of allied forces from Afghanistan, due to falling public support for the war.